Wine headache? Try a low-sulfur Beaujolais Cru on Sunday

by Do Bianchi on August 5, 2009

Eric Asimov’s blog and weekly NY Times column are required reading chez Jayne and this week we highly recommend that you check out his post (and article) on Beaujolais, why greedy marketing ruined the appellation, and how its come back with a vengeance, producing awesome, long-lived wines made from Gamay. (Also recommended: Dr. Vino’s post from last year on why you shouldn’t drink Beaujolais Nouveau, besides the fact that it sucks, because of its carbon footprint.)

There are 10 crus in Beaujolais (see the map above; cru, pronounced crew, means “growth” in French and it is used to denote a single-vineyard growing site, i.e., an ideal vineyard for the production of fine wine).

Morgon is one of the most famous of the Beaujolais crus, known for its terre pourrie or “decayed soil,” made of loose schist that forces the vines to dig deep in search of nutrients and water, thus producing richer and more tannic fruit.

The Beaujolais Morgon of Guy Breton has been known to age well for decades and is one of the greatest examples of natural wine produced in this appellation. One of his secrets is adding only tiny amounts of sulfur to his wine (btw, sulfur is added to all wine, in order to stabilize it and stop it from turning brown). Legendary natural wine importer Kermit Lynch has always pointed to Breton’s wines as an example of how natural wines need only low sulfur to stabilize and how they age better than sulfured wines.

Ever had a wine headache? Come taste this amazing wine with us on Sunday and blow your mind. Once you go natural, you can never go back…